'Guardians of the Galaxy' to boost the summer box office?

It hasn't been a blockbuster summer for the film industry so far, with no film in the U.S. cracking the $300-million mark in box-office takings over the period – which is usually one of the busiest of the year.

The summer's biggest hit so far was "Transformers: Age of Extinction", with a domestic gross of $237 million, according to Box Office Mojo. By comparison, 2013's "Iron Man 3" earned $409 million, and Marvel's "The Avengers" was a runaway success, earning more than $623 million at the U.S. box office in 2012.

"For whatever reason, (the box office in) 2014 hasn't worked the way people expected," IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond told CNBC. IMAX, which has 837 theatres across the world, specializes in large-format and immersive cinema.

As a result, hopes for a box-office bump from Disney-owned Marvel's latest offering—"Guardians of the Galaxy"—are riding high. The film, which is released this weekend, stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper, and is directed by James Gunn.

"Guardians" has received positive reviews, with a 93 percent "fresh rating" on Rotten Tomatoes. Entertainment journalist Kara Warner tweeted that the film was "the most fun I've had watching a movie this year…so wonderfully entertaining and just beautiful."

In fact, Disney is so confident in the film they have announced a sequel even before its release, breaking the news at Comic-Con.

Dimitrios Kambouris | Getty Images

"Audiences like it. People will be surprised at its results," said IMAX's Gelfond, who also downplayed the summer slowdown in box office takings.

"The movie business has been around for over a hundred years - there are good years and bad years," he said. "Every time there are two good movies in a row, everybody says it's back, but if there's a downturn, people say it's over."